Beware Dehydrators (Newbie first post)

I read that a food dehydrator is a good paint drying accelerator...

I read that a food dehydrator is a good paint drying accelerator...Wow. At what temperature did you have it set?

The concensus around here has been that ~110° is about the maximum safe for styrene kits...

Wow. At what temperature did you have it set?

The concensus around here has been that ~110° is about the maximum safe for styrene kits...

Not sure. There are no controls on the unit I have, and I didn't use a thermometer. I have used it a few times in the last few weeks as I've entered this hobby with no problems.

This time, I left it running in the garage for about an hour....MELTDOWN.

Live and learn!

My advice to you would be to go out and buy yourself a thermometer (they shouldn't cost much), and see what temperature it runs at. If it's a little too hot, perhaps making some sort of venting in the side of it would help cool things down.

Personally, I have a plate that used to be used for helping seedlings germinate, and with a cover over the top it runs at about 30 degrees C, which is enough to let me polish a car body the next day.

Welcome along. :wave: Plenty of other people's mistakes to learn from around here!

Sorry about the Porsche. It looks like it coming along nicely. Tried to contact Tamiya yet for a new body shell?

I read that a food dehydrator is a good paint drying accelerator...

Holy cow man, sorry to hear that! Yeah you need to get a thermometer, it should never get hot enough to melt plastic. I use my gas oven's pilot to cure my models and the thermometer reads about 120F/40C. Overnight doesn't even hurt it. Maybe your paint got too hot and melted the plastic?

Bad luck man. Goes to show there is a fine line between dehydrating and cooking :frown:

Bad luck man. Goes to show there is a fine line between dehydrating and cooking :frown:
:nono: as you said live and learn

Ouch! I've been using one for 8 years, never had this happen, I never close anything up in it, I leave a 3" gap between the lid and the first shelf. Mine has the fan inside that keeps the air moving, that's the best effect for drying the paint.